


Double Drabble: O Human Child.

by Lanna Michaels (lannamichaels)



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Double Drabble, Fatherhood, POV Second Person, Time Period: Reign of Gregor Vorbarra, Time Period: Vorkosigan Regency, Warning: Dead siblings, Winterfair Open Exchange 2012
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-10
Updated: 2012-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-29 08:34:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/317863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannamichaels/pseuds/Lanna%20Michaels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You were never the perfect one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Double Drabble: O Human Child.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mistralfancy](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=mistralfancy).



> The title is from The Stolen Child by W. B. Yeats. Written for [](http://mistralfancy.livejournal.com/profile)[**mistralfancy**](http://mistralfancy.livejournal.com/) 's Winterfair Open Exchange 2012 prompt: _Aral reflecting on the differences between the son he'd envisioned and the one he has._
> 
>  **Warning:** Dead sibling issues.

You were never the perfect one. That was always _them_ , and you have been as guilty as any in holding up their stars. _They_ were perfect and beautiful, Piotr's little martyrs, and little Aral, the one left, was terribly flawed and far too imperfect.

You stare down at Miles and think: history repeats.

You want to promise your son: no one will ever do to you what they did to me. They will never make you think you aren't good enough. Never expect you to accomplish not only your own deeds, but the never-deeds of the lost ones. Never hold you up so high, you can only fall.

You can't make those promises.

Especially now.

But even if your son were born perfect, as perfect as his mother could have made him and his father could have wished him, it would still have been a broken promise.

There are no magic tricks or charmed lives. A perfect Piotr Miles would still have proved imperfect in the end. You realize: it's better this way. This way, there are no illusions. Miles is born imperfect into an imperfect world.

With that clear from the start, the only direction to go is up.


End file.
